Sepulona steps up in overtime to give Saint Louis ILH title

Pupu Sepulona could only be held down for so long.

The Saint Louis sophomore, who entered Wednesday’s ILH championship tilt averaging more than 17 points a game, scored the go-ahead bucket in overtime and closed out the Crusaders’ second league title in a row with two free throws for a 41-36 victory over Maryknoll at McCabe Gym.

Sepulona scored five of his team-high 11 points in overtime as Saint Louis survived Justin Yap’s fadeaway jumper to tie the game with a second remaining to force the OT period.

“Justin is clutch and I respect him and that shot was amazing,” Sepulona said. “When it was overtime, we just stayed focused and concentrated on what we had to do.”

Shancin Revuelto had a big three-point play near the end of regulation and two clutch free throws in overtime, and Stone Kanoa scored six second-half points and had some key plays on defense to help Saint Louis (9-4) earn the seeded bye in next week’s state tournament.

It’s the first back-to-back ILH titles for the Crusaders since 1995-96.

“It was back-and-forth and we were just fortunate to make a few more plays at the end, but it could have gone either way,” Saint Louis coach Dan Hale said. “It’s tough to play Pupu that kind of defense for that long but we got back to getting the ball back inside where he could make plays and that was the difference.”

Sepulona was held to six points in regulation, but it looked like it would be enough until Maryknoll came back late.

Revuelto converted a 3-point play with 1:15 remaining to start an “it’s all over” chant from the Saint Louis student section.

But it wasn’t.

Hunter Marumoto found Fabian Camacho for a layup with 59 seconds remaining and the Spartans forced a tie-up on defense at mid-court to take over possession on the jump ball.

Yap missed a 3-pointer from the right wing but chased down the rebound. He then made a spin move in the lane and collided with a defender as he flipped in a layup, but a potential three-point play was instead whistled as a charge.

After a quick delay to allow for administrators to come to the court and help keep the opposing student sections from overflowing onto the floor, Saint Louis tried to throw the ball the full length of the court on an inbounds pass with 11 seconds to go.

Yap managed to steal the ball and then dribbled to the other free-throw line where he swished a fadeaway to tie it up.

Marumoto’s 3-pointer was the only field goal in overtime for Maryknoll, which shot 1-for-9 from the field in the extra period and missed three of four free-throw attempts.

“It’s frustrating when the kids are playing so hard and an official makes a crucial call in a certain situation. To me that was kind of big,” Maryknoll coach Kelly Grant said. “They have so much girth underneath the basket and that was the difference.”

Marumoto finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists and Yap added nine points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals to lead Maryknoll (10-5), which will open its sixth consecutive state tournament Monday in the first round.

Neither team led by more than the final margin of five points.

“(Maryknoll) played tough, but what carried us in the first half were the other guys because if they don’t step up, we’re down,” Hale said. “Kelly is a good coach and that’s a well-coached team that knows what they are doing and it took everything we have.”